Beginning
by 2pennies
Summary: NickCassie. She drew him a picture. It wasn't something she Saw.


**Title**: Beginning

**Author**: 2pennies

**Rating**: PG

**Fandom**: PUSH

**Pairing**: Nick/Cassie

**Disclaimer**: I am not affiliated with PUSH, the characters, or the actors.

**Note**: Couldn't get this idea out of my head.

---

The night after Kira left, she had drawn him a picture. Not of something she Saw. Just a picture of him and her next to a tree in the rain. They were smiling. He gave her a curious look.

"I want to stand in the rain with you one day," she answered. She ripped the picture out of her book and handed it to him.

She was thirteen then.

Two years later, they were in London. Hyde Park. She had checked the forecast before asking him to meet her there. It was suppose to be sunny on his birthday.

But there they stood, half drenched from the sudden downpour. The two ran to the nearest tree they saw for some semblance of shade. Blue and purple streaks from her hair clung to her face as she shivered from the sudden chill. He shook his head, wondering when she was going to grow out of her already-too-short miniskirts phase. He took off the zip-up hoodie he was wearing under his damp jacket and covered her shoulders. She took it like she always did whenever he offered the small gesture.

"Should have probably Seen this," she muttered, pushing her arms through the long sleeves. He smirked. Looking around him, he started to laugh.

"What?" she asked. He looked down at her.

"I think you _did_ see this," he replied.

"What?" she echoed, her mind blanking. He reached for his wallet from his back pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper, handing it to her.

Carefully, she took it and opened it, only to recognize the messily scrawled picture she had given him. Her, him, a tree, the rain. She remembered the sappy feeling she had when she drew it and the nervousness that swelled in her stomach when she gave it to him. The feelings crept up inside her again. Shaking her head slightly, she wiped a few strands of hair from her face.

"You kept this?" she asked, her eyes meeting his.

He shrugged. She waited. He sighed.

"It was the first time you drew something that you didn't See," he replied. "Thought I should keep it. Since you gave it to me."

It felt like _her_ birthday. She couldn't hide the grin that spread across her face. She handed him back the picture. He carefully folded it back up, placing it back in the empty slot of his wallet.

She reached into her bag, taking out a small messily wrapped box.

"Happy birthday, Nick," she said, handing it to him. He looked at her, hearing the rain soften around them.

Unwrapping the gift, he found a small bounded book. He flipped through the pages. They were blank. He looked at her quizzically. She sighed as if she was annoyed that he didn't get the most obvious gift ever.

"It's for you to draw in. I shouldn't be the only one scribbling my life away," she explained as she zipped up his hoodie on her.

He smiled, book in hand.

"Thanks."

She crossed her arms, looking out at the grass and rain, feeling sappy and nervous again.

She was fifteen then.

Three years later, they were in Manhattan. It was dark and snowy Christmas Eve. Faded carols and bells jingling amidst crowded sidewalks of happy people surrounded them. It made them feel smaller.

It had been a sore year for them both. He had left her for four day that year (the longest they had been apart since Hong Kong), trying to work things out with Kira for the final time. He swore it was the last, and this time she believed him because he had thrown out the tattered picture of her from his wallet (she felt a small sense of pride when she saw the corner of her picture for him still in its pocket). Finally, he felt free. Cassie had her own troubles. Her mother was still a prisoner. Their most recent plan hadn't worked out. She felt stuck all over again.

Hands shoved in the pockets of her thick coat, she glanced at him. He was quiet tonight, even more than usual.

"You okay?" she asked suddenly. His eyes met hers blue ones, and he offered a small nod.

She made a mental note and didn't push him. They continued to walk in silence.

"Want to get a slice before we go back home?" she asked as they neared the pizza place by their apartment.

"You paying?" he asked, his tone playful. She smiled.

"Don't I always?"

The two stepped out of the busy streets and into the quiet pizza place. After grabbing a few slices, the two stood at a table near the window, eating and watching the crowds blurring by. Cassie was wrestling with strings of cheese from her mouth when she felt a nudge. Hands occupied, her gaze lowered to find a small box on the table near her elbow. Her eyes swiftly moved to meet his, but she just saw a small smirk on his face as he continued to eat and watch the passersby.

"Didn't we say no gifts this year?" she asked lightly. He gave her a small shrug, mouth full of food.

Putting the her food down and wiping her hands on a nearby napkin, she took the box and opened the lid with hesitation.

Inside, she found a bound book. She immediately recognized it as the one she gave Nick on his birthday. She shot him a curious look, eyebrow arched high before flipping through it.

The pages weren't blank like she had remembered them being when she bought it three years ago. Instead, she found messy scrawled drawings. Places they've been. Things they've done.

She saw a drawing of them on the boat they lived on for four months off the coast of Florida Keys.

A flip of the page and she saw them with their arms up in the air on a rollercoaster on the Las Vegas Strip.

Her eyes widened at the drawing of them standing in a crowded Japan subway, smiling and laughing (she even remembered the joke he had told her at that moment).

Drawings of them.

She wanted to look through the whole thing but instead her eyes tore themselves away to his figure.

"You told me I should draw didn't you?" he answered her questioning face with a question.

Her eyes widened. He smirked from the corner of his mouth.

"I know, I know. My drawings are amazing," he gloated. She shook her head, rolling her eyes playfully. She cleared her throat.

"Um, you do realize this is too big for me to put in my wallet," she joked, regaining some of her composure. She looked down at the book of their memories and then back at him. He looked thoughtful.

"Maybe you need a bigger wallet," he retorted. Her glassy eyes shined as she let out a small laugh.

As she flipped through his drawings, she wondered when things had changed between them. Or rather, she wondered when _he_ finally realized it.

Because she's known since the day she gave him that picture of them in the rain.

She was eighteen. This was their beginning.


End file.
